Pretty Little Picture
by turnitintolove
Summary: All she wants is a nice photo, of the three of them smiling.  What is so damn hard about that?


It took the three of them two hours to get ready and 30 seconds to get Nina into the car without jumping into any puddles. Getting a three year old in a brand new white dress, socks, shoes, and hair bow from the front door into the car should be an Olympic sport. One that Brittany and Santana would be gold medalists at (almost) every time. Brittany had gotten her in the car seat without too much trouble, while Santana held the oversized umbrella.

"But why do we have to go?" Nina whined.

"So we can have pretty pictures in the house. And to make your grandparents happy." Santana was backing the car up, while Brittany opened a small bag of cheerios to pass back to their daughter.

"But I don't wanna."

"How about after, we go get ice cream?" Brittany was pretty good at negotiating with the stubborn brunette. A skill she had learned years ago. Nina crossed her arms and glared out the window, ignoring the bag her mother was waving at her. "She looks like you more every day."

"I know. I'm starting to believe my parents now."

"What do you mean?" She had rearranged herself in the passenger seat to face Santana.

"Grandchildren are a parents best revenge." She chanced a look in the review mirror and laughed. Nina just glared. Even at three years old, Santana could see her stubbornness staring back at her.

The ride to the studio only took 20 minutes, and Nina could not, or would not be cheered up. Once inside, Nina's eyes lit up at the sight of a carousel horse.

"There's no way that thing is going to be in our family portraits. No way." Santana hissed into Brittany's ear. But she didn't hear. Her eyes lit up the same way Nina's did. "Oh great."

"Can I sit on it Mama? Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase?" Nina looked up at her. Santana sighed, smiled, and picked her daughter up. She made her way to the horse to set her down.

"She can't sit on that. It's a prop. For decoration only." The photographer stepped into the room and was pointing at the brightly painted horse.

"But it's a carousel horse." Brittany looked at the man, not understanding.

"She can't sit on it." He was checking the settings on his camera and pointed to a set of large blocks. "She can sit on those."

"Sorry baby girl." Santana carried her to the blocks and set her down. Nina crossed her arms and pouted.

"She really can't sit on it? She won't break it or anything." Brittany was trying to reason with the photographer.

"She can't sit on it. She can stand in front of it if you want." He went back to changing the settings on his equipment.

"You can stand in front of it sweetheart." Brittany was trying to cheer her up, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I wanna sit on it." She said it with a huff that further accentuated her stance. Santana in miniature. That's all Brittany could think of, and she had to suppress a laugh.

"I know. I know. Well, how about when we go to the fair this weekend, we ride the carousel?" Nina didn't respond. "How about we ride it twice?" Nothing. "Three times?" Nina raised an eyebrow. "Five times. We'll go on it five times." Nina relaxed her arms and sat down. Success.

"How do you do that?" Santana mused.

"I've had a lot of practice." She smiled and kissed her wife.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment, in only that it means you know how to reason with our daughter." Brittany just smiled.

"Alright! Let get this started!" The photographer sounded too happy. Santana didn't like him. "How about we do a few set ups. The three of you sitting on the blocks with the little one in the middle."

"My name's Nina." She glared.

"Oo-kay." The photographer motioned for the three to sit down, and adjusted them as needed. After a few clicks of the camera, he stopped. "How about you smile for us, Nina?"

"No."

"Baby girl, why don't you smile?" Santana was kneeling, Her hands cupping her daughter's cheeks.

"I don't wanna." She crossed her arms. Determined.

"Please? For Mama?"

"No." Santana looked up at Brittany, who shrugged. Sometimes you just couldn't do anything.

"Just keep taking pictures, maybe she'll brighten up in a bit." Brittany offered to both the photographer and to Santana. They both nodded.

About 15 minutes and three setups later, Nina would not smile. But she kept glancing at the carousel horse.

"Mommy, I wanna sit on the horse." She looked at Brittany with hope in her eyes. Brittany looked at Santana.

She approached the photographer. "Is there any way, at all, that she can sit on the horse? I would really like to have a nice photo of three of us in the house. A nice photo, where we're all smiling."

"Look, I get that your kid wants to sit on the horse. But she can't. We don't usually do kids photos here-"

"Then why the hell do you have it in here?" Santana had crossed her arms and tensed her shoulders. Even the photographer had to laugh to himself (on the inside, there was no way he'd laugh at this woman) at the similarity between her and the kid.

"She can't sit on it." He said it with a tone of finality that sounded more like a challenge than anything else. She looked back at Brittany and Nina standing in front of the damn horse. Nina looked like she was going to cry.

"Let. Her. Sit. On. The. Damn. Horse." Santana leaned in and glared at the man in a way that said 'Or I will end you for making her cry.'

"F-fine. She c-can sit on it." He was leaning back, trying to not look her in the eye.

"Thank you." She said it with a smile as she walked back to put Nina on top of the horse.

"Alright! Smiles all around!" This time he sounded scared. "Nina, can you smile? Please?"

"No." Everyone sighed.

"Just keep taking the da-arn photos." Santana caught herself before Brittany could get mad for swearing.

"O-okay."

The photos came in the mail a week later. They all looked beautiful. But Santana's favorite was of the damn carousel horse. Brittany was smiling, her arm around Nina. Nina had her arms crossed and was glaring at the camera. Santana had an arm around Nina and was looking smug. It was them. It was also the photo that they hung in the living room and sent out to their family and friends.

* * *

><p>A few years later, Nina wouldn't remember taking the photos, or why she was so grumpy. But Brittany and Santana would laugh about it. Recalling how at an early age Nina was just as headstrong and stubborn as her mother. Christopher would always complain that he wasn't there for it.<p>

"You were an idea though, so that counts for something." Brittany kissed their son's blonde mohawked head as he turned the pages in the family album. "But you need to stop looking at pictures of your Mama and Uncle Puck from high school."

"I like the hair! It's badass!" He squeaked.

"You're eight. You can't be badass." Nina came in with Santana and sat down.

"I can too be badass! Uncle Puck told me. Isn't that right Mama?"

"Stop saying ass." Santana kissed her wife and sat down next to Nina.

"Can we take photos? All four of us?" Christopher looked at the three women surrounding him.

"Only if your Aunt Quinn will do it. And no horses this time." Santana leaned back.

"I'll call her after dinner. How about you two go wash up and set the table."

Nina and her brother raced down the hall to the kitchen.

"How did we end up with kids this awesome?" Brittany stretched to lay her head in Santana's lap.

"Hhhhmm. Probably because we're awesome." She planted a kiss on her wife's head.

"True."


End file.
